The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action from the latest round of matches in the 2024 Vitality Blast
Chelmsford: Essex 187-3 v Kent 165-5 - Essex won by 22 runs
Sam Cook returned from injury to linchpin Essex's 22-run victory over 'Battle of the Bridge' rivals Kent Spitfires and put the Eagles in pole position for a Vitality Blast quarter-final place.
Fast bowler Cook ended a 49-day hamstring injury lay-off to take 1 for 21 as Essex defended 187 despite Tawanda Muyeye's T20 best of 73.
Adam Rossington, Dean Elgar, Michael Pepper, and Matt Critchley all passed 30 as the Eagles set an imposing total of 187 – with Paul Walter the stand-out with an unbeaten 46.
The victory bucked the trend at the Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford, which had seen the side batting first win just one of the previous 11 matches, and kept Essex in the top four, while Kent remain bottom.
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Cheltenham: Gloucestershire 152 v Middlesex 181-5 - Middlesex won by 29 runs
Jack Davies and Martin Andersson staged a gutsy alliance of 101 as Middlesex recovered from adversity to forge a 29-run Vitality Blast victory over Gloucestershire at Cheltenham.
Reduced to 32 for 4 in the powerplay, the Londoners were indebted to their fifth wicket pair, Davies raising 53 in 35 balls and Andersson 52 from 39 deliveries to stage a recovery that saw Middlesex eventually post a competitive total of 181 for 8.
It proved too big an ask for Gloucestershire, whose chase was undermined by Luke Hollman, the leg spinner claiming 3-37 from four overs. Jack Taylor and Beau Webster scored 45 and 31 respectively and staged a stand of 68 for the fourth wicket to keep the chase alive, but Middlesex seamers Blake Cullen, Noah Cornwell, Tom Helm, and Ryan Higgins bowled a disciplined line to dismiss the home side for 152 in 19.5 overs.
Gloucestershire's fifth defeat in 11 outings in the South Group denied them an opportunity to climb into the top four for the first time and are now under pressure to win against Hampshire in Southampton on Friday if they are to keep alive their hopes of claiming a place in the quarter-finals. As for bottom-of-the-table Middlesex, this was their first win since early June and only their second in 11 matches this season.
Luke Hollman was the pick of the Middlesex bowlers in their win over Gloucestershire (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Derby: Derbyshire v Lancashire - Match abandoned
Rain washed out the Vitality Blast T20 North Group match between Derbyshire Falcons and Lancashire Lightning at Derby.
The weather set in hours before the scheduled 7 pm start and the rain got heavier as the evening progressed leaving the umpires with no alternative but to call the game off at 8.30 pm.
Both teams take a point from the abandonment that leaves Lightning in second place while Falcons move above Durham to fourth.
Headingley: Yorkshire 108-3 v Durham 107 - Yorkshire Vikings won by 7 wickets
Leg-spinner Jafer Chohan claimed a maiden five-wicket haul to help set Yorkshire up for a crucial win by seven wickets over fellow contenders Durham at Headingley, chasing only 108 to boost their Vitality Blast quarter-final hopes.
Chohan, who turned 22 today, finished with a superb 5 for 14 from 3.4 overs as Durham were bowled out for 107 inside 17 overs.
Jafer Chohan took his maiden T20 five-wicket haul to bowl Durham out cheaply (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
He struck three times in the 15th over as Durham crumbled from 96 for 5 to 97 for 9 on a used pitch having elected to bat. They crept to three figures, but it wasn't enough to prevent a fifth defeat in 11 - this one coming with 3.2 overs remaining as Adam Lyth top-scored with 30.
Durham, from whom Ben Raine top-scored with 33, started an overcast night fourth in the North Group but slipped out of quarter-final places as the Vikings chased with comfort to end a run of three straight losses and win for the fifth time in 11.
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New Road: Worcestershire 184-8 v Leicestershire 168 - Worcestershire Rapids won by 16 runs
Worcestershire Rapids ended a run of seven successive defeats in the Vitality Blast and dealt a blow to Leicestershire's hopes of reaching the knockout stages with a 16-run victory at New Road.
Worcestershire achieved their highest score of the season thanks chiefly to Adam Hose's 63 off just 39 balls.
The Leicestershire spinners Lewis Goldworthy and Rehan Ahmed both bowled excellent spells in the middle overs which gave them combined figures of 8-0-45-3 before Hose's late onslaught.
But their powerful batting top order line-up was blown away by Tom Taylor and youngster Harry Darley as they were reduced to 28 for 5.
Louis Kimber revived Leicestershire's hopes with their fastest-ever T20 fifty off 21 balls including five sixes in a two over spell and he and Ben Cox added 85 in eight overs.
Matthew Waite cleaned up the innings with a stream of late wickets including Cox in the final over for 55 to give him a career best Blast return of 5-21.
The injury-hit Rapids have lost several games by tight margins but this was a convincing performance while Leicestershire have now gone four games without a win courtesy of two defeats, a tie, and a wash-out.
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